Belle didn't know how to manage both the people together. Here was the councilman who wanted to interrogate Lucas and here was a person who was not her mother but a creature who had sheathed itself as her mother. 

"Councilman, did you have questions for me?" asked Lucas and the man spared another look before turning to Lucas. 

"Yes, it was about Miss Susan and Miss Olivia's case," answered the councilman. 

"Why don't we take this to another room?" Lucas tried to manoeuvre the councilman out of the kitchen and away from the fake Mrs. Adams. 

Thankfully, the woman didn't say anything and she let them leave. Lucas gave a look at Belle and she only gave a stare back before the woman who claimed to be her mother spoke, "What happened, Belle dear? You look as if I have done something bad. I don't even know why the girl screamed. I was here having my blood te-"

"What are you doing here?" asked Belle straightforwardly.

The woman tilted her head, a questionable look on her face, "Me? As I said, I was having blood tea that you made for me. This is my house."

"This is not your house. This is not your family and the appearance you have taken doesn't belong to you but my mother," Belle stated, her eyes burning bright red in colour. 

The creature's smile fell down, the woman walked towards the utensils with her back facing Belle right now, "You found out. What gave it away?"

There was something off about them since the very beginning. Belle was not going to sit and have a chat with this creature who had eaten her mother's soul. As if their death wasn't worse enough, the land of the dead would have been nothing but h.e.l.l for them and there was no returning back. 

Seeing Belle not replying to the question asked, the creature said, "This house smells like death and I doubt it is because your parents died here," the woman paused walking, turning around to take a deep breath and she said, "It is as if this entire place is a graveyard. It smells just like the land of the dead. A perfect place for us to live and feed on you," the woman smiled in a way her mother never would have smiled. 

"What makes you think you will be living here? You are a dead person. Like it or not you will be burned and exorcised," hearing this the woman started to laugh. 

"Do you think a simple thing like exorcising will drive us away? And who said we are going to be using this body?" 

Belle and the woman continued to stare at each other and Belle realized that the creature wanted to eat her soul and host into her body, "Keep dreaming about it," answered Belle. 

"Let us see how much you think about it is a dream, but isn't it time to wake up."

At first, Belle didn't know what the creature actually meant but then the creature smiled before its mouth turned wide, "AHHHHHH!!!" 

Belle's eyes widened, she raised her hand to snap her finger but the creature didn't stop screaming until all the servants who were resting in the quarters rushed towards the kitchen with a look of shock on their face. The damage was done far worse and this creature was bringing out more trouble. The creature had meant to wake up the servants out of their room and the other creature that was resting in her parent's room. 

"How about I show you some manners?" asked the creature with a smile and just as she raised her hand to throw an attack on one of the maids, Belle raised her own hand and she diverted the attack that fell on the wall and create a harsh dent with dust falling on the ground. 

Belle then said, "Get inside the room and do not come out until you are asked to!" The servants took a second more and when the creature went to attack one of them, they finally started to scatter back, ushering themselves into one room for support. 

"What little mice they are, and you," the creature turned to look at Belle, "Where did that come from? When I ate your mother, you know I could hear her crying. Begging me not to eat even though her soul was soiled. I made sure to eat slowly, one bite after another until all her memories were turned to me."

Belle clenched her hand into fists, "Be careful with what you speak," she warned the woman. 

"What are you going to do? The girl is going to cry? Poor thing. No parents, no relatives, no one to look after but do you want to know something?" asked the creature, "Your mother thought you were a spoilt child. Someone who didn't understand their pain and was always ready to spoil the family name. She wished to have a son instead, because of how hopeless you are. Did you know that?" asked the creature. 

Belle had to remind herself that this creature here was not her mother but someone who came from the darkest and deepest parts of the land of the dead. Her mother would never say something like this. 

"It looks like you're having a hard time believing it," said the creature, and it suddenly attacked her by throwing a knife which she quickly dodged. 

On the front side, in the hall, the councilman heard a scream and looked at Lucas, "What the h.e.l.l is going on in here?" and when his eyes fell on the woman in the portrait, his lips parted, "S-she is supposed to be dead..." and Joshua looked at Lucas who had a blank expression on his face. 

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